a mother and son barely esce >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald. good afternoon, i'm michelle griego. frank is on assignment. a mother and son barely escape after a fast-moving fire rips through their hayward home. cbs 5 reporter elissa harrington is in hayward. arson investigators believe the woman was targeted. >> reporter: as fire completely destroyed this apartment, you can see a big pile of charred debris in the inside absolutely gutted. firefighters are investigating this as arson. >> caused like a explosion and both sides caught fire. >> reporter: shattered glass, a boom, then screaming. that's what residents of the dixon lane apartments in hayward say they heard before a fire tore through this two- story unit. it happened just before 4 a.m. the apartment manager lived here with he on. >> the manager was standing at her front door yelling for help with flames coming out of her

apartment. >> reporter: they escaped the flames and a family next door was also evacuated. firefighters say it appears a molotov cocktail was the cause. someone hurled the bottle through a front window. >> we have a pattern on the floor shows accelerant that caused the fire and made it spread. >> reporter: the manager didn't want to be interviewed but did tell me off camera she thinks someone was trying to kill her. this apartment is now a crime scene. once firefighters are finished, police will come in to do their investigations. the woman and her son, who lived here are staying with family members. elissa harrington, cbs 5. a man is in the hospital after a car plummets 300 feet over a cliff in daly city. it happened around 4:30 this morning at highway 35 near olympic way. a winch was used to carry the man to the road and transported him to the hospital. another passenger had minor injuries and is expected to be okay. a car fire inside the

caldecott tunnel snarled part of the morning commute. chopper 5 flew over the backup. it happened in the eastbound direction just after 8:00. it took about 45 minutes to clear the road and reopen the tunnel. the city of lafayette has selected a contractor to fix a huge sinkhole created after last week's storms. c.c. meyers company will be hired to handle repair work on mountain view drive. weather permitting, the plan is to have the work completed by christmas. union officials have vowed to wage war against those behind the just-passed right to work law in michigan state. thousands of protestors stormed the state capital today as lawmakers made their final vote on the plan. the law makes it illegal to force a worker to join a union or pay union dues. michigan is now the 24th state to did so. supporters say it will bring more jobs to the state but opponents including president obama are adamant the law is a political attack against unions. in this economy people are struggling to find work but

would you believe a bay area restaurant is struggling to find workers? cbs 5 reporter cate caugiran is in emeryville now. they have been holding job fairs. >> we're outside the construction site of that new restaurant also across the street from a job fair which started a few moments ago. as you can see by our little bear friend here. normally restaurant leaders of the black bear diner say they have lines around the block but as you can see, that isn't the case. >> we have very small turnout in comparison to our other job fairs. and we were a bit shocked. that's why we just were left dumbfounded. >> reporter: this is the site of the new black bear diner set to open next month. now the restaurant's concern is, will they have enough people to staff it? >> in comparison when we had job fairs in vallejo and milpitas, we had hundreds show up just lined up outside the door. >> reporter: 40 people showed up to yesterday's job fair a

big difference from the past. >> totally different response than what we expected. just what we hear on the news about the unemployment rate and all the stories going on especially after the election of jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: alameda county has an unemployment rate of 8.6% compared to san francisco county's 6.8%. numbers like these leave him puss stolid why so few people showed up. >> and emeryville hasn't been the same, but maybe it's because of the holiday and people are busy but at the same time, if you are look for a job from my experience, it doesn't matter what the time of the season is. >> reporter: the company put out the word through several online job sites for the past week. rivero says they still have 100 positions to fill and they need to fill them fast. training starts next week. now, the job fair will go until 8:00 tonight. the president of the this black bear diner tells me they are hiring all kinds of positions,

part time and full time and they will be hiring here on the spot. reporting live in emeryville, cate caugiran, cbs 5. >> maybe that bear will help attract some applicants, cate. thank you so many. negotiations to end the crabbers strike will get going again this afternoon. it's been six days since the boats went out and dungeness crab is hard to find in stores and restaurants. the crabbers are upset over wholesalers' attempts to lower prices. in a related development, oregon is delaying the opening of its crab season until december 30th. and that should give bay area crabbers a little more leverage a mysterious invasion along 12 miles of northern california beaches is puzzling marine biologists. thousands of squid washed up during high tide yesterday along miles of the monterey bay shore. the humboldt squid stranded themselves from aptos to watsonville. some people tried to put them back in the bay but the deep water creatures swam back to

shore. a graduate student observing it said this could probably -- said the squid probably don't know where they are. >> they don't see the shore very often so it might be they don't understand what's going on around them and they are trying to get away and don't realize if they swim towards the shore, they are going to run out of water eventually. >> researchers say that mass strandings are common when squid invade a new area, although seagulls and other critters are likely to gorgeous on the carcasses. scientists warn people not to touch or eat the squid as they may contain toxins. if they were old enough, they would be booked into jail and charged with a measure 11 robbery 1 which would land them 90 months in prison. >> an unbelievable crime by a par of even more unbelievable suspects. why two boys ages 7 and 11 may not even be punished after pulling a loaded gun on a woman. and call it close encounter of the bay area kind. what experts say is likely behind this strange show of lights. hi, i'm meteorologist

lawrence karnow in the cbs 5 weather center. well, the wind has shifted directions, clouds are moving in. could we see rain? we'll talk about that coming up. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

who tried to steal this wo's car.. but what you won't bee is the age of the boy who se th he said it's fully loaded cocked ready to blow your brains out. >> terrifying words from the boy who tried to steal this car. police in oregon said they never heard of such a crime a 7 and 11-year-old robbing a woman at gunpoint. the boys came up to the woman, waiting in the car in a church parking lot and demanded money, cell phone and the keys. well, she refused, got in and called police. when officers confronted the

boys, the 11-year-old refused to take his hands out of his pockets. >> officers grabbed on to him, pulled his hand out and in his pocket was a loaded .22 firearm with a hammer back ready to fire. >> police handledded the boys over to their parents because they are too young to be taken to detention. authorities are trying to figure out how it handle the capes. officers say if they were older they faced 7.5 years behind bars for this crime of the. tempers flared in a florida courtroom when george zimmerman's request to leave seminole county was denied. >> you keep bringing up publiclity, the case, the defense does and argue it's unsafe for them there. who is generating this publicity? why are we here for this motion? >> that's the lead prosecutor in the case. he is upset the judge agreed to rule on the defense motion to end gps monitoring of

zimmerman. he is charged with murder in the shooting death of 17-year- old trayvon martin and he pleaded not guilty claiming it was self-defense. zimmerman's attorneys argued today's hearing was necessary because there is a new judge on the case and not all the evidence was presented at the last hearing. more backlash today from the royal hoax. legal experts say the australian radio station behind the prank call could face criminal charges. the question now, whether a private conversation was broadcast without the permission of the participants. last week's prank has been widely condemned after it aired. it's linked to the apparent suicide of the nurse who put the call through allowing the radio station's deejays to get confidential information about kate middleton's health. in australia, airing a private conversation without consent can mean prison time but it's unclear who at the station may be charged. the deejays have been fired and their show canceled. a bigbie for a big airline.

delta announced today it's buying almost half british airlines' virgin atlantic. richard branson will own 51% of the operation and this will still operate as a separate airline under its own name. after several stranded drivers had to be rescued apple is fixing errors in its map feature. instead of directions to mildura drivers down under were being led to a remote state park with no cell phone reception and high temperatures. at least four people had to be rescued. police did put out a warning. now apple says it's updated the maps to fix the problem. and something strange lit up the night sky in san francisco's mission district. but it wants a meteor. it wasn't a constellation. planet orr, wasn't even the moon. this video shot by eyewitnesses, 7 strange lines in a line, flickering on and off before making a triangle. some of believe it's a ufo.

others are not convinceed. >> i am 100% sure this was a ufo. >> reporter: you do admit you had a little christmas cheer? >> absolutely. absolutely. tequila was maybe an influence here. >> definitely not an alien starship of some sort? >> that wouldn't be my first guess, no. >> tequila can be an influence. [ laughter ] >> our experts say the flickering lights were most likely floating balloons carrying lights. folks in florida witnessed some wild weather. check it out. a funnel cloud formed over eastern florida. a little scary there. the weather service hasn't confirmed a tornado touched down but the storm left a lot of damage behind. no one was injured. that's a big storm there, lawrence. >> yes! speaking of storms, we might get some interesting stuff coming our way. how about some snow on our local mountaintops? wouldn't that be nice? we have some very interesting very coming in our direction. we have had a great day but that's all about to change as high pressure has started to weaken. the latest satellite image, watch what happens. you can see the cold front come into view so we are going to

see more clouds as we sail in toward the afternoon. we have already seen some patchy fog developing over the bay. temperatures much cooler than yesterday. 52 degrees right now in concord. 59 in livermore. 62 degrees in san jose. and 51 in santa rosa. this afternoon more clouds. then a chance of rain developing tonight and snow until the highest mountains likely, a dusting toward tomorrow. but unsettled weather ahead. in fact, it looks like we have a couple of more storms headed toward the bay area. this system very cold that's working in our direction. doesn't have a lot of moisture in it. maybe a quarter to half inch of rain in the bay area. winter weather advisories going up tonight in the sierra nevada. we could see the snow level down to 3,000 feet or so. so that's pretty low. and some dense fog in the early- morning hours in through the central valley. this afternoon, let's time out the storm system as we'll see a

lot of clouds beginning to move into our skies. then toward the evening hours, showers begin to develop. by midnight into the parts of the south bay. tomorrow morning, commute time, a few scattered showers about the bay area not a total washout but it's going to be a cold brisk day for tomorrow afternoon the today, mid-60s to morgan hill. 62 degrees into fremont. east bay temperatures in the 50s and 60s. and as you as you make your way inside the bay you'll find those numbers mainly into the 50s and 60s. and looking out over the next few days, unsettled weather as we head in toward tomorrow. then looks like we catch a break on thursday. still a slight chance of some showers as we head in toward friday. and by saturday we catch another break but another storm system drops into the bay area as we head in toward sunday so some unsettled weather on the way for the bay area. looks like things could be that way for the foreseeable future. by the way, today don't forget this is "food for bay area families." we have a couple of guests here. paul ash is here from the food bank and we're joined by mario

diaz from wells fargo. you guys have been a great participant with us to really help out the food ban locally. >> we're san francisco's bank since 1962. we are pleased to support the marin food bank to fulfill the needof families struggling to have meals morning, afternoon and evening. so today we would like to present the agency with a $100,000 check. >> wow! $100,000! very good! [ applause ] >> how about that palm. that has to make you feel good. >> it's fantastic. what impresses me and you can't even put this on a check are the 3,000 hours of volunteer time that wells fargo team members have put into the food bank this year. they rehabbingage rice, beans, anything we need. who go to cbssf.com and click on "food for bay area families" and you can make a donation

there, as well. thank you very much, guys. happy holidays. back to you. >> thank you. amazing, $100,000. >> whoo! >> no kidding. coming up next, you may order tuna but is that what's really on your plate? the surprising finds in restaurants and grocery stores. >> and turning human wastewater into working brain cells. who made the discovery coming up next. [ female announcer ] this is a special message from at&t.

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urine.. into working brain cells.. scientists used kidney cells ne.. and reprogram in today's healthwatch, chinese researchers say they have transformed human urine into working brain cells. scientists used kidney cells from the urine and reprogrammed them into brain cells. the hope is the technique could be used to treat diseases like alzheimer's and parkinson's disease. scientists are looking at porcupines to develop pain-free shots. a new study shows the way the animals' quills are designed actually the way they are designed are actually reducing the force needed to pierce tissue. researchers say they will try and design new needles based on the quill. overeating may be a strong indicator your kid is using drugs. a boston children's hospital study looked at people ages 9 to 24 and found a connection between overeaters and drug use. researchers say it suggest that is lack of control may lead to overeating. nutritionists say it's another good reason to screen teens for eating problems. something fishy about new

york seafood. a study by a conservation group found a shocking amount of mislabeling. grocery stores in new york were found swapping fish. studies in boston, miami and l.a. had similar findings. the winter veggies are out in your produce aisle. tony and his daughter stephanie have tony's table. >> pasta with all winter vegetables. >> the star of this pasta is this beautiful kale. buy it like this at the market already cleaned for you. you should clean it when you bring it home but in a bag without the stems. >> so we have the kale and there was a little bit of chicken stock and oil and salt and then some carrots and broccoli. >> the pasta is fettucini. love this flattened noodle. it's so great with vegetables. mix that up.

we also added pasta water because it gives them some starch red pepper flakes giving it some kick. just dump it in there. look how beautiful that looks. >> this is great because it's hard to find a lot of vegetables that go together in the winter. >> now we finish this off with toasted bread crumbs. >> my favorite part. >> a little bit of cheese. what about some olive oil at the end? a little bit of olive oil and that's it. there's the pasta, hearty, delicious. a double high five. beautiful. bye-bye. well, when we come back, a test run today for the air force's new secret high-tech spacecraft. and a reminder, if you have a consumer problem or question, just call our hotline, 1-888-5- helps-u. volunteers are there right now. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

marin county. caltrans closed the northbound 101 connector to highway 1 becae of water on the roadway. high tide this morning caused this washout in marin county. caltrans closed the northbound 101 connector to highway 1 because of water on the roadway. this week we'll be seeing some of the highest tides of the year. what's called king tides happens on thursday when the gravitation national pull on the moon is greatest. black friday deals are fading from memories but not for consumers' whose orders were canceled. what happens when you don't get your goods. that and more coming up at 5. third time's the charm for the air force's latest

experimental space plane. they are sending the x37b orbital test vehicle on its third test flight today. it's being developed as a reuse al unmanned space vehicle. engineers say it can fly 500 miles above earth at speeds over 17,000 miles an hour. the launch from cape canaveral air force base in florida is planned for 10 a.m. finally, it's the season of giving and no one knows better than shaq-a-clause. this year he had help from some men in uniform in times square. he teamed up with toys for tots to distribute the gifts throughout the new york city area. cool shaqa claus. >> he is so big he makes everybody looks like elves. >> see you at 5:00. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,

(knock on door) >> eric: come in. >> pam: eric, tell me that it's true. tell me that what i'm hearing really just happened in here. >> eric: she would not be silenced even from the grave.